Reading Activities for Speed and Comprehension - ESL Level 1
Overview
Because ESL Level 1 students may not all be at the same level, some of the readings may be too difficult for some students. However, the emphasis in these activities is to work on reading strategies for all levels of reading, both at the students' level and above it as well.
This module can be combined with the others uploaded about grammar, teaching sentence structure, and writing activities to create an entire OER based ESL class for this level.
Improving Reading Speed
Improving Reading Speed
- What Is Reading?
- Obviously, the first goal is to understand what you are reading.
- However, true reading is impossible without some speed. To read properly, readers must go fast enough to get a movie in their heads. Without this speed, readers will not comprehend the text, even in their native languages!
- But I Don’t Know a lot of these Words!!
- True! All language learners encounter (find) words they do not understand when they are reading. Many students then look up the words they do not know in the dictionary. When students follow this pattern, they are no longer reading; they are now working on vocabulary.
- Though learning more vocabulary is important, learning to read for main idea and stopping the focus on new vocabulary is crucial (important) for learning to read fluently. We will build your vocabulary in separate exercises.
- The Plan
- Thanks to Sonia Millett for her readings and quizzes (resource linked below). These materials have controlled vocabulary for ESL learners, so students will know most of the vocabulary.
- We will be completing one reading/quiz every week of the semester.
- For these readings improving speed is the primary goal, so the goal is to score at least 70% on the quizzes. Any student who scores 8, 9, or 10 on the quiz should be going faster.
- Students earn a 100% for the quiz for completing it; the accuracy score is NOT the grade.
- The goal is more confidence and speed.
- How To Speed Up
- Read for main idea, rather than word for word.
- Try to read in phrases or groups of words, rather than word for word.
- Do not worry about vocabulary you do not know.
- Do not follow along with a finger or piece of paper.
- Do not look back at the readings while you are taking the quiz. Answer only from memory. Remember that the accuracy score does not have a negative impact on your grade.
- Instructions
- You will have three minutes to read the passage. Set a timer, and stop after three minutes.
- No really, stop!
- Go take the quiz, from memory.
- Let me know how it went. We will be discussing these exercises, your progress, and your concerns.
- Web Resource
Millett, Sonia. School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies Speed Readings for ESL Learners 3000 BNC. English Language Institute, 2017 [webpages].
https://www.victoria.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1068071/3000-BNC-SRs-for-esl-learners-readings.pdf
Skimming and Scanning
- Why We Don’t Always Want to Read Carefully
- Sometimes we only need to know the main idea of a reading.
- Sometimes we do not have enough time to read something carefully to get every detail.
- As non-native speakers we often cannot read word for word because it is very labor intensive and time consuming. Also, looking up every word we know does not allow us to read. Reading must be faster like we have been practicing with the speed reading exercises.
- How to Skim
- Skimming is what you have been practicing with your speed reading. You are reading quickly and not reading everything on the page.
- A variation of skimming takes advantage of the structure of English writing. If you read the first and last sentences of every paragraph, you will have a good basic understanding of what the article/essay/etc. is saying.
- How to Scan
- Scanning is where you do even less reading and are looking for main ideas and repeated words.
- Even if you are going to read more carefully, it is a good idea to scan before you begin to read. What words jump out at you? What words are in bold? Are there any lists?
- With What Sources Can You Use These Techniques?
- Not every type of reading will work well with these techniques. For example fiction (stories that are not true) does NOT work well with these techniques because fiction relies (needs) on details and small facts to help tell the story. If you miss these small clues, you will miss a lot of what the author is trying to convey (tell).
- These techniques work really, really well with newspaper articles and textbooks because these formats are very straightforward and direct.
- Skimming/Scanning Assignment
- Skim/scan the following article.
Bliss, Sara. “9 Ways To Find Your Perfect Career Match.” Forbes, 29 Apr. 2019.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarabliss/2019/04/29/9-ways-to-find-your-perfect-career-match/#6cb3522eec75
- Then, answer the following questions without looking back. Your grade is for completion, not accuracy (how many correct).
- Why is this article a good one to use for skimming/scanning?
- Did you find this article helpful and/or informative? Explain your answer.
- What are two of the nine questions the author discusses?
- What is something from the article that you remember well? Give details.
- What is something you feel like you missed or misunderstood?
- Web Source
Dafoe, Colleen. “Skimming and Scanning.” YouTube: 23 June 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1wPYHa5nUg
Reading Newspapers
- Why We Are Using Newspapers
- Newspapers are from the real world.
- Although newspapers are written at a variety of levels, generally, they are at an easier level than other adult material. We will be reading from a variety of papers this semester. Pay attention to which ones are easier or more difficult for you to understand.
- Because newspapers are part of society, the topics and writing style will have cultural references and varying language styles.
- The Southwest Tennessee Community College (STCC) library has subscriptions to many newspapers and databases. In addition some newspapers are available on the internet. So, in our case, newspapers are free!
- Headlines
- Another reason that newspapers are an excellent reading source for ESL students is that the titles of the articles, which are called headlines, tell you the main idea.
- Why do headlines tell readers the main idea right away? What is their purpose?
- Our First Article (instructors may want to change to a more current one)
- The first article we are going to read is “Coronavirus' online school is hard enough. What if you're still learning to speak English?”. It is an article from May 23, 2020 in The USA Today which is known as ”The McDonald’s of Newspapers.” It is a great newspaper for ESL learners because it is the easiest newspaper to read.
- The USA Today is also a great resource because anyone can access it online for free. It does not require a subscription.
- Copy and paste the article name above into Google, or click on the link provided in the module.
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/education/2020/05/14/coronavirus-online-classes-school-closures-esl-students-learn-english/5178145002/
- After reading the article, take the Quiz located under the Quiz feature in PAWS.
- How Newspaper Page Numbers Work
- Newspapers have multiple sections: news, sports, society, etc.
- Because of these different sections, newspaper page numbers have two parts: the letter representing the section and a number representing the page number inside that section.
- The page numbers begin again at 1 for each section.
- Quiz over “Coronavirus’ online…..”
Answer the following questions about the article from USA Today. Write in complete sentences, and give your honest opinion. These are discussion questions which do not have one correct answer. However, your discussion needs to make it clear that you have read the article and thought about what it says. This article is long, so you will have to read quickly. Do not look up a lot of words. You only need to understand the main idea in order to answer the questions.
- This article talks about the struggles (problems) that ESL students have with online learning. What are some of the struggles discussed (talked about) in the article?
- Why did the author write this article? What is her purpose in writing it?
- Why does the article say that in person school is more important for ESL students than for native English speaking students?
- "It's almost like the screen makes the students feel more anonymous and isolated." This quote is in bold near the end of the article. Explain what the teacher means in this quote.
- What was your experience like reading this article? Was it too easy, too difficult? How did the faster reading with the attention to the main idea work?
Sight Words
- What Are Sight Words?
- Sight words are the most commonly used words in English.
- According to Dr. Edward Fry, an expert on the subject, “25 words make up 33% of written material; 100 words make up 50% of written material; 300 words make up 65% of written material” (Fry 1000 Instant Words List).
- We call these words sight words because readers should instantly recognize them without having to sound out the word. We teach them as sight words to children learning how to read as well because they are so common, and many of them do not follow the phonics rules (words like was and two).
- Sight Word Assignment
- Read the eighth, ninth, and tenth Fry lists. For your homework, list and define 10 words from these lists that are new to you. If you know all of the words already, contact me for an alternative assignment.
- Read through all of the lists to make sure you know all of the first 300 words. Keep working on the other lists until you know these words as well.
- Web Source
“Fry Word Complete List of 1,000 Words| Printable Sight Word Lists.” K12 Reader: Reading Instruction Resources.
https://www.k12reader.com/worksheet/fry-words-complete-list/view/
Reading More Difficult Articles
- Newspapers Have Different Reading Levels
- Last week we discussed that newspapers are an excellent way for second language learners to improve their reading skills with real world material and that newspapers are not as difficult to read as other materials.
- However, not all newspapers are written at the same reading level.
- The Commercial Appeal and USA Today use easier vocabulary than other newspapers like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal
- In this unit we are going to read excerpts (parts) of an article from The Guardian, a British publication that is at a higher level than USA Today.
- Why Are We Reading More Difficult Articles Now?
- In academic settings you will often be assigned reading that is above your level.
- For that reason you have to develop reading strategies that concentrate on understanding the main idea, even if the vocabulary is difficult and you miss some of the details.
- The purpose of this lesson is not to understand every word; it is to learn how to approach difficult readings.
- Steps to Reading a More Difficult Article
- Manage the vocabulary. Vocabulary you do not know is perhaps the biggest obstacle (problem) to reading more difficult material. Just as I did here, I will be defining difficult vocabulary in parentheses. If you were reading on your own, scan the passage first, and look up problem words. You do not need to look up every word you do not understand, just the ones that occur more than once or seem important to the passage.
- Read a smaller passage. When you are going to read something more difficult, break it into smaller pieces that are not overwhelming (too much to deal with). We will be reading three smaller passages of this article over the next three weeks.
- Stop and check comprehension (understanding). After each sentence or two, you need to think about the passage as a whole to that point. Ask yourself, “What is it saying?”
- Recognize stylistic devices and idioms. We will discuss metaphors and idioms. What makes fiction and higher level reading is that authors often use phrases that do not have literal meaning.
- Do your best with no stress. Be relaxed. If you are still not understanding fully, discuss with someone. In this class we will be discussing these readings together.
- What We Are Reading
- We are reading excerpts (pieces) of an article that is an interview with Neil Gaiman, a famous British author.
- I will include a link to the entire article in case you are interested.
- Talking about Libraries
- Since we are discussing the community in this module, this article talks about libraries and their importance to communities.
- In the United States all cities and most small towns have public libraries that are free for citizens. These libraries are in addition to the academic libraries available on college campuses. What kind of libraries are available in your home country?
- What is a library? Most of the time we think of libraries as places full of books. While true, libraries offer much, much more.
- Are libraries still important since fewer people read physical books? This question is the basis (main idea) of the article. Let’s go read!
- Gaiman Article Excerpt 1 Reading and Response
- Before you begin reading, ask yourself the following questions:
1. What is a library? What kinds of experiences have I had at libraries?
2. How do I feel about reading and learning?
3. How has learning changed with the internet and computers?
NOTE: I have included in parentheses ( ) definitions of vocabulary you may not
know. These insertions are from me and NOT part of the original article.
- “Neil Gaiman: Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading, and Daydreaming” from The Guardian
A library is a place that is a repository (storage place) of information and gives every citizen equal access (use of) to it. That includes health information. And mental health information. It’s a community space. It’s a place of safety, a haven (safe place) from the world. It’s a place with librarians in it. What the libraries of the future will be like is something we should be imagining now.
Literacy (ability to read and write) is more important than ever it was, in this world of text and email, a world of written information. We need to read and write, we need global citizens who can read comfortably, comprehend (understand) what they are reading, understand nuance (small differences or points), and make themselves understood.
Libraries really are the gates to the future. So it is unfortunate that, round the world, we observe local authorities seizing (taking) the opportunity to close libraries as an easy way to save money, without realizing that they are stealing from the future to pay for today. They are closing the gates that should be open.
According to a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, England is the “only country where the oldest age group has higher proficiency (ability) in both literacy and numeracy (math skills) than the youngest group, after other factors, such as gender, socio-economic (how many opportunities were available) backgrounds and type of occupations are taken into account”.
Or to put it another way, our children and our grandchildren are less literate and less numerate than we are. They are less able to navigate (move around) the world, to understand it to solve problems. They can be more easily lied to and misled (deceived or taken advantage of), will be less able to change the world in which they find themselves, be less employable (able to get a job). All of these things. And as a country, England will fall behind other developed nations because it will lack a skilled workforce (group of people who work).
- Student Discussion Response: Tell us what you thought about the article. Do you agree with Neil Gaiman's points about the importance of libraries and literacy? What experiences have you had with libraries either in your home country or in the U.S.?
- Gaiman Article Excerpt 2 Reading and Response
1. Before you begin reading, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Do you enjoy stories? From books, movies, or story tellers? Why?
2. Do you enjoy reading? Why or why not?
3. What memories do you have about books and/or stories.
NOTE: I have included in parentheses ( ) definitions of vocabulary you may not know.
These insertions are from me and NOT part of the original article. Also, ellipses (… or
….) indicate (show) that I have left out material from the original article.
2. “Neil Gaiman: Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading, and Daydreaming” from The Guardian
…. I want to talk about what reading does. What it’s good for. ….
Fiction (created stories) has two uses. Firstly, it’s a gateway drug (slang reference – a gateway drug is a drug that leads to more dangerous ones. Even though this reference comes from drug culture, it has become common in informal speech to mean something leads to something else) to reading. The drive to know what happens next, to want to turn the page, the need to keep going, even if it’s hard, because someone’s in trouble and you have to know how it’s all going to end … that’s a very real drive. And it forces you to learn new words, to think new thoughts, to keep going. To discover that reading per se (itself) is pleasurable. Once you learn that, you’re on the road to reading everything. And reading is key. There were noises made briefly, a few years ago, about the idea that we were living in a post-literate world, in which the ability to make sense out of written words was somehow redundant (extra), but those days are gone: words are more important than they ever were: we navigate the world with words, and as the world slips onto the web, we need to follow, to communicate and to comprehend what we are reading. People who cannot understand each other cannot exchange ideas, cannot communicate, and translation programs only go so far.
The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate (able to read and write) children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable (fun) activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them.
….And the second thing fiction does is to build empathy (understand and share other people’s feelings and situation). When you watch TV or see a film, you are looking at things happening to other people. Prose (not poetry) fiction is something you build up from 26 letters and a handful of punctuation marks, and you, and you alone, using your imagination, create a world and people it and look out through other eyes. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. You’re being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you’re going to be slightly changed.
Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed (thinking only of ourselves) individuals.
….I was in China in 2007, at the first party-approved science fiction (stories about space or science that are beyond current science capabilities) and fantasy (stories with characters and/or creatures that are not real like unicorns, dragons, etc.) convention (large meeting of people who share a common interest) in Chinese history. And at one point I took a top official aside and asked him Why? SF (science fiction) had been disapproved of (not thought of as a good thing) for a long time. What had changed?
It’s simple, he told me. The Chinese were brilliant (very smart) at making things if other people brought them the plans. But they did not innovate (create something new)and they did not invent (create). They did not imagine. So they sent a delegation (group of government or business people) to the US, to Apple, to Microsoft, to Google, and they asked the people there who were inventing the future about themselves. And they found that all of them had read science fiction when they were boys or girls.
Fiction can show you a different world. It can take you somewhere you’ve never been. Once you’ve visited other worlds, like those who ate fairy fruit, you can never be entirely content with the world that you grew up in. Discontent (not satisfied) is a good thing: discontented people can modify (change) and improve their worlds, leave them better, leave them different.
- Student Discussion Response: Do you agree with Gaiman's belief in the importance of fiction/stories? Explain your answer. Tell us about a time stories have been important in your life, either written or oral. Do you think stories have the power to increase empathy as Gaiman says? Explain.
- Gaiman Article Excerpt 3 Reading and Response
1. Before you begin reading, ask yourself the following questions:
1. How do books and reading relate to the “real” world?
2. Do you feel that we have obligations (things that we must do) to children?
3. Do you think it is important to read to children? Why or why not?
NOTE: I have included in parentheses ( ) definitions of vocabulary you may not know.
These insertions are from me and NOT part of the original article. Also, ellipses (… or
….) indicate (show) that I have left out material from the original article.
2.“Neil Gaiman: Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading, and Daydreaming”
from The Guardian
….I think we have responsibilities to the future. Responsibilities and obligations
(things that must be done) to children, to the adults those children will become, to
the world they will find themselves inhabiting (living in). All of us – as readers, as
writers, as citizens – have obligations. I thought I’d try and spell out some of these
obligations here.
I believe we have an obligation to read for pleasure, in private and in public
places. If we read for pleasure, if others see us reading, then we learn, we exercise
our imaginations. We show others that reading is a good thing.
We have an obligation to support libraries. To use libraries, to encourage (tell
people that something is good) others to use libraries, to protest the closure of
libraries. If you do not value libraries then you do not value information or culture or
wisdom. You are silencing the voices of the past and you are damaging the future.
We have an obligation to read aloud to our children. To read them things they
enjoy. To read to them stories we are already tired of. To do the voices, to make it
interesting, not to stop reading to them just because they learn to read to
themselves. Use reading aloud time as bonding time, as time when no phones are
being checked, when the distractions (things that keep us from paying attention to
something) of the world are put aside.
….We all – adults and children, writers and readers – have an obligation to
daydream(dream while you are awake). We have an obligation to imagine. It is easy
to pretend that nobody can change anything, that we are in a world in which society
is huge and the individual is less than nothing: an atom in a wall, a grain of rice in a
rice field. But the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals
make the future, and they do it by imagining that things can be different.
….everything you can see, including the walls, was, at some point, imagined.
Someone decided it was easier to sit on a chair than on the ground and imagined the
chair. Someone had to imagine a way that I could talk to you in London right now
without us all getting rained on. This room and the things in it, and all the other
things in this building, this city, exist because, over and over and over, people
imagined things.
We have an obligation to make things beautiful. Not to leave the world uglier than
we found it, not to empty the oceans, not to leave our problems for the next
generation. We have an obligation to clean up after ourselves, and not leave our
children with a world we’ve shortsightedly messed up, shortchanged, and crippled.
We have an obligation to tell our politicians (people who work in the government)
what we want, to vote against politicians of whatever party who do not understand
the value of reading in creating worthwhile citizens, who do not want to act to
preserve (keep) and protect knowledge and encourage literacy. This is not a matter of
party politics. This is a matter of common humanity.
Albert Einstein was asked once how we could make our children intelligent. His
reply was both simple and wise. “If you want your children to be intelligent,” he said,
“read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy
tales.” He understood the value of reading, and of imagining. I hope we can give our
children a world in which they will read, and be read to, and imagine, and
understand.
3. Student Discussion Response: Do you agree with Gaiman's steps that we must take
for the future? Explain. Would you add anything to his list? Now that we have read all
three excerpts, did you enjoy what we read? Explain.
- Web Source
Gaiman, Neil. “Neil Gaiman: Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading and Daydreaming.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 22 Feb. 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming
Finding and Reading Your Own Newspaper Articles
- What Do You Want to Read?
- In this unit we are discussing news and current events. Rather than having me decide what we are going to read, each of you is going to choose one news article that interests you.
- You may use an online article or an article from a physical paper. To find an article in your academic library, go to the main library page and/or ask for assistance (help) from a librarian, either in person or electronically.
- Search or Browse in an Online Newspaper
- If you want to look for articles about a specific topic, use the search box at the top of the page.
- If you are unsure what you want to read about, click on a specific publication date. You will then see a list of all of the articles in that edition.
- Note: News and current events are time sensitive (something published 2 years ago will not reflect the current situation). Therefore, please choose an article from within the last three months.
- Student Discussion: What article have you found that you want to read? Why did you choose this article? What made you want to read it? Is the topic something you are familiar with, or is it new information?
- Reading Your Article
- For some online sources have a play button that enables an online reader. If you have access to this feature, you can either read and listen or listen first and then read.
- Make sure you do your pre-reading: What do you expect this article to be about? Do you see any words you need to look up before reading? What do you already know on this topic?
- Reading is about getting information. Learning new vocabulary is a secondary part of the process and should not take over the actual reading. So, you are only allowed to look up a maximum of 5 words, AND you must look them up either before or after reading. Do not interrupt (break into) your reading to look up vocabulary.
- Discussion Response
- What did you learn from reading this article? What is the main idea? What is the author’s purpose in writing it?
- Did you enjoy this article? Explain. Was it like you thought it would be, or was it different? Would you recommend this article to someone else? Why or why not?
Reading Essays and Using Them as Examples and/or Inspiration
- What Is an Essay?
- Wikipedia says that an essay is “ a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument…”
- They can be formal or informal or in between.
- They can follow any number of rhetorical (way it is written) patterns including: narration, description, argumentation, comparison/contrast, or definition.
- They are non-fiction, which means that they cover events that actually happened in the way described.
- Tips for Reading Essays
- Don’t look up every word you do not know. However, you should look up new words that the author uses more than once.
- Stop at the end of every paragraph and think, “What did I just read? What is important in this paragraph?”
- As you read, think about why the author has written this essay.
- At the end ask yourself, “What is the thesis or main idea of this essay? Why did the author write it? What am I supposed to get from reading it? How does what this author says relate to me?”
- Essay Choices that Work Well
- “Tortillas” by José Antonio Burciaga
- “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady
- “My Journey Home” by Sejal Patel
Patel, Sejal. “My Journey Home . America, My Home Essay Contest | PBS.” Www.Pbs.Org, 2004.
https://www.pbs.org/weta/myjourneyhome/essays/sejal_p.html
- Homework Assignment for “Tortillas”
1. What is the thesis/main idea of "Tortillas"? Think about why Burciaga wrote the essay and what he wants us to get from reading it.
2. Define the following words from the essay. The numbers in parentheses ( ) are the paragraph numbers telling you where the words occur. If you know the meaning, you can use your own words. If you do not, you can look them up in a dictionary.
yarmulke (2), absconded (3), concocted (7), maize (3), adobe (4)
- Food Definition Paragraph Assignment Inspired by “Tortillas”
- Using "Tortillas" as inspiration, write a paragraph where you define a particular food by using description and perhaps a little narration (story). Think about how you can paint a sense (how it tastes, smells, feels, looks, sounds) picture for your readers. In the last sentence, tell us what the food is.
- Remember that you MUST use good sentence variety and strong verbs. This paragraph should be at least 9 sentences long which means that at least 4 sentences must begin with something before the subject. Make sure you also vary sentence length because you run the risk of making your sentences sound exactly the same when you begin describing. You do NOT want to say: It smells like....It sounds like.... Use some story elements. Tell us what/who this food reminds you of. What memories does it evoke (bring up)?
- Student Discussion Response for “My Journey Home”:
What did you think of this essay? Explain. Were you surprised that the author is in high school? Explain. Did you relate to the author? Have you had similar experiences? Explain. Where do you think of as your home? Is your answer the same as the author's or different?
- Home Paragraph Inspired by “My Journey Home”
Using the essay as your model, write a paragraph describing your home. It can be a structure, a town, a country. Describe what home means to you. As always, make sure you use sentence variety. You are required to begin at least one sentence with a participle phrase.